thens thorough faith sincere holines and true righteousnes and what so euer maie make vs amiable and acceptable in Goddes sight that we maie glorie in no maner of thinge saue in the lord Iesus alone our only sanctifier iustifier saueor redemptor and what so euer our nede requireth that he shulde be vnto vs. For what was impossible for the law to do in that it was weake thorow the flesh God hath perfirmed hauinge sent his sōne in the likenes of sinful flesh by sinne that is to saie by a sacrifice for sinne hath condemned sinne in the flesh This sonne of God is made vnto vs wisedome righteousnes sanctification and redēption This sonne of God hath raunsomed vs from the curse of the law This sonne of god is the ende of the law to iustifie al that beleue This sonne of God had giuen vs the spirite of adoption the spirite of Goddes childrē the spirite of fredom the spirite of alacritee good courage These thinges Io. Baptiste teacheth and so quaileth the Iueis vaine gloriynge in Moses their vaine gloriynge in their awne holines and righteousnes to the high aduancemēt of him to whom al glorie is due euen Iesus Christ our only lorde saueor No man hath seen God c. Now to confirme the thinge that he had signified touchinge Moses namely that he must sitte far beneth the lorde Iesus in this sentēce he giueth vs to vndrestāde that the verie knowlege of Goddes wil of the law that Moses had he receaued it from Goddes sonne For nether Moses nor anie other mā cold attaine to anie certaine knowlege of Goddes wil or shal euer attaine hereafter but by the reuelation of him that is in Goddes bosome So Moses whose passinge great knowlege they bosted so much was but the lord Iesus his scolar and therefore of dutie must giue place to his master The Iues Indede had euer in their mouthes that Moses had seen God and spoken with him mouth to mouth so that god had no secrete that he had not opened vnto him But the truth is that no mortal man can attaine to a ful knowlege of Goddes infinite maiestie and see his face as it is For whan Moses desired to see Goddes glorie and maiestie aunswer was made vnto him thou cāst not see my face for man shal not see me and liue Wherefore whan the scripture sayeth that Iacob saw God face to face and that Moses talked with him mouth to mouth the meaninge is that God opened him selfe more plainly talked with them more familiarly than with other men How beyt they saw not his awne verie face that is thei attayned not to a ful knowlege of the diuinitee For as Tertullian lernedly writeth mannes minde can not comprehende the thinges that be in God For God is greater than mannes minde nether can it be thought how great he is For if God cold be comprehended by thought than he shuld be lesse than mannes minde whereby he might be conceaued He is greater also than al speech nether can he be vttered with wordes For if he cold be vttered with wordes thā he shuld be lesse then mannes speech whereby he might be compassed But what so euer shal be thought of him shal be lesse thā he what soev shal be spokē of hī shal be lesse thā that that is aboute him For if thou shalt calle hī light thou shalt name a creature of his not expresse hī If thou shalt calle hī vtue thou shalt speake of his power and not vtter him If thou shalt calle him maiestie that shalt describe his honor and not himselfe Breifely what so euer thou shalt saie of him thou shalt rather declare a thinge of his than him selfe For what canst thou worthely speake or thincke of him who is greater than al wordes al vndrestādinge sainge that one waie we maie cōprehende in minde what God is if we shal thīcke him to be that that cā not cōme in to mānes ūdrestādinge or thought what maner a thinge and how great it is For as our eye sight is dulled in be holdinge the soume nether cā abide the glisteringe brightnes of the sunne beames so our minde suffreth the like thīge in thinckinge of God and the more it is bent to considre God so much the more it is dafeld blinded with light For what can we thinke worthely of hī that is higher than al highnes deper thā al depenes lighter thā al light brighter than al brightnes stronger than al strenght fairer than al fairenes truer than al truth greater than al greatnes richer thā al riches wiser than al wisdome better than al goodnes iuster than al iustice more merciful than al mercie so that it maie be truly said that God is such a thinge as where vnto nothinge can be compared For he is aboue al that can be spoken or thought And therefore whan Moses was admitted to a singular sight of the diuine maiestie God saide vnto hī thou shalt see my hinder partes my face thou shalt not see The sight of Goddes backe was a great knowlege surely of the diuinitee but not a ful knoulege so that it might be saide that he saw Goddes verie face And yet that knowlege also which he had of God he had by the instruction reuelation of Goddes sonne For God inhabiteth light that no mā cā approche vnto Goddes sōne ōly knoweth the father he ōly giueth al the knowlege of the father that euer anie mā had or shal haue For he only is of the fathers priuie coūsel he only is admitted in to his bosome GOD The greke word theos which S. Iohan vseth is made of thee in to rūne as Plato teacheth bicause the rude old mē seinge the ouer bodies so fast to moue thought that God ranne in thē therefore called god a rūner We maie thincke that he is called a rūner bicause he is spedely presēt to helpe in al nede Other deriue the word out of deos feare bicause he is most to be feared reuerēced The latines cal God deū as it semeth of the greke word theos or deos or as some thīcke a dādo of giuīge or quod nihil illi desit bicause he wāteth nothinge But though the names that the heathē vsed whereby to signifie the supreme aeternal mīde be verie good takē out of some proprietes effectes that thei vndrestode in god yet it shal be most fruteful cōfortable for vs to know what name the godlie haue vsed goddes spirite hath vttered in the holie scripture Now the most excellēt name of god expressed by godes spirites is Iehoua which the grekes cal tetragrāmatō bicause it cōsisteth of .4 spirital lettres The hebrues haue it in such reuerēce that thei thīke it is not to be vttered with mēnes lippes therefore in stede therof thei euer read adonai And to this daie if thei heare a christiā pronoūce it thei ar astonied seare left the skie shal fal
that is none other wise than a kinges sonne shuld do To our purpose Kinges and Princes haue their glorie and their maiestie semelie for their state the Lorde Iesus had glorie semelie for Goddes sonne ¶ THE ONLY BEGOTTEN This word auanceth the Lorde Iesus aboue al creatures and teacheth him to be Goddes natural son We ar also called Goddes sonnes but that is by adoption by fauor by grace not by natural generation By natural generation God hath one only sonne who of his goodnes mercie hath made vs partakers of that that he is by nature This word only begotten ought wel to be weighed For it teacheth the Lorde Iesus to be of the same substance that the father is of and and therefore verie God and aequal to the father For these thinges hange together folow one another For our Euāgelist teacheth in the .5 chap. that whan the lorde Iesus saied God was his father he mēt patera idion his awne father that is his natural father therefore shewed him selfe aequal to God For it foloweth in dede that if God be his awne father that is to saie his father by natural generation he must nedes be aequal to God his father For in the Godhead there is nothinge greater or smaller He that is of Goddes substāce must nedes be God And he that is God must nedes be infinite aboue al measure greatnes So to be Goddes ōly begottē sonne God to be his awne father bothe which wordes this Euāgelist hath of the lorde Iesus ovthroweth al that maie be diuised by anie rauīge braine against his tru natural godhead Yet the Arrians lille out theyr blasphemous tounges stil francticly allege the scriptures for them For first thei iangle that it is writtē in this gospel the father is greater thā I. Wherevnto first I saye that one place of this gospel is not to be expouned agaīst the hole purpose of the boke which is to teach that the lorde Iesus is Goddes natural sonne aequal to God And sith the Euangelist hath this worde aequal plainly and expressely thei shew themselues mad that wold make him to encoūtre agaīst himselfe Secōdly I saie that in that place the lorde Iesus compareth not his substance with the fathers substāce but compareth his present hūble state with the glorious state that he shulde haue after his ascēsion And therefore al the godlie old fathers welnigh haue taught those wordes to be spoken of his mānes nature which shuld be forth with aduaūced to immortal incorruptible glorie by the power of the father Some greke writers in dede admitte that the father is greater thē the sonne not bicause he hath greater power or that there is anie differēce in their substāce essence but in that he is the father and begetteth the sonne and is not begottē of the sonne therefore he maie be saide greater The meaninge also of those wordes the father is greater than I maie be this The ende why I trauaile with you is not that you shuld staie in me and loke no farther but to bringe you to the father as to the last marcke that with me you maie see him as he is Whose glorie is more dere to me thā is myn awne glorie therefore I seke it more thā myne awne I thincke that I haue not accomplished myne office vntil I haue brought you to him But our Arriās sith they be ouer the shoues sticke not blindly to presse forwarde to goe ouer the bootes to For thei rūne to this place writtē to the Cor. chap. 15. Whā al thinges shal be made subiecte to him thā shal the sonne also him selfe be assubiected to him who hath assubiected al thinges to him But what if we aūswere that that also is spokē touchinge his mānes nature For the same autor S. Paule in the .2 to the Philip. teacheth that touchinge his diuine nature he thought it no robberie to be aequal with God Naie saie they for than he shuld not haue saide shal be assubiected for that nature is al readie subiecte Wil they graūt than that the lorde Iesus hath a nature that is not now subiecte to God but shal be hereafter If they wil graūt that thā wil I saie that what so euer is not now subiecte to God in the lorde Iesus shal nev be subiecte to God For that that is once aequal to God shal euer be aequal to God How than is it saide that his mānes nature shal be assubiected if it be al readie assubiected I aunswere bicause we shal thā know it which now we beleue only For as S. Augustine proueth in the holie scripture thinges are saide to be don whā they beginne to be knowē of vs. As whan we saie halowed be thy name Goddes name of it selfe is holie but we desire that it maie be so knowen to vs. For fuller vndrestandinge of that place of Sainct Paule ye shal considre that al power is giuen to Christ in that he is clothed with mānes nature For God hath exalted him in the same nature wherein he was humbled The scripture than witnesseth that Christ hath ful dominion and raigneth ouer heauen and erth God in dede is our gouernor but it is in the face of Christes mānes nature Now Christ shal surrēdre the kingdom that was giuen vnto him that we maie cleaue perfectly to God Howbeit he shal not by that meanes vtterly giue vp his kingdō where of as the scripture teacheth there is no ende but he shal as it were conueie it from his manhod to his godhead For thā we shal haue an opē entree free accesse to the diuine maiestie where now our weaknes wil not suffre vs to approche Christ thā shal this waie be subiected to the father for thā the veale shal be taken awaie the office of his mediation shal some waie cease we shal se God face to face raignīge in his glorie without anie coueringe meane And where sainte Paule saieth that God maie be al in al some thincke he speaketh so bicause we shal haue than without anie meane manie cōmodities which god now ministreth vnto vs by creatures For mainteināce of our life we shal than haue no nede of bread drincke c. nether for aedifyinge shal we haue nede of the sacramentes of the church nor the outwarde worde of the scripture nor ecclesiastical offices For God by him selue shal be al in al. Other teache the meanīge of those wordes to be that the flesh shal couet no more against the spirite but God shal possesse euerie parte of vs and reigne in vs fully and perfectly which thinge in this life is only begonne Here I wil leaue the Arrians stickinge in the mire wil returne to S. Iohā FVL of grace and veritee Bicause that afterwarde he setteth grace veritee against the law there be that thinke that his meaninge is here that the Apostles acknowleged him to be Goddes sonne by this that he
⧠AN EXPOSITION OF A PARTE OF S. Iohannes Gospel made in sondrie readinges in the English Congregation by Bartho Traheron and now published against the wicked entreprises of new sterte vp Arrians in Englande He that beleueth in me beleueth not in me but in him that sent me And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me Iohan. 12. ¶ Imprinted Anno. 1557. ✚ TO MY MOST DERE SISTER ELISABETH P. THINCKE not to much good sister what you haue had but considre what you haue remembre not what you haue ben some tymes in the worldes eies but what you be now in goddes eyes Lamente not that you lost but ioie in that you haue founde Whan you were high you were surely low now that you ar low you ar surely high Let this sincke in to your minde that if wordlye thinges had not ben taken from you you shuld shortely haue bē taken from them and perchaunce if they had not ben so drouned they wold haue drouned you before death had remoued you from them If no aduersite had assailed you you had ben a ded sea and the patiēce other singular vertues which now shine in you had ben quenched ether in your selfe vtterly or touchynge the knowlege of anie other vnfrutefully And therefore Seneca truly saide that that person is verye miserable who neuer felt anie miserie The world ment to impouerishe you but God hath enryched you The world wold depresse you but God hath aduaūced you The world thought to ouerwhelme you with heauines but God hath filled you with tru ioies The world labored to staine you with infamie but God hath made your name both cleare and pure and also to sende forth a pleasant odor amonge his saītes You haue not thā lost somuch as you haue founde Only beware for the tyme to cūme for more remaineth to be laied vpon you for a farther trial Yea I know that Circe the sorceresse hath al readie wil more here after allure you with hir enchaunted cuppe But let not the swetenes of the cuppes lippes and the pleasantnes of the poison begile you Rather chose to drinke the lordes cuppe which though it haue a bitter tast in the first draught yet in the ende purging corrupte and noisome humors it maketh a pure and cleane bodie You know that as goddes goodnes hath made you my natural sister so his wrath hath giuen to vs both and to the rest of our brethern and sistern an vnnatural stepmother How vnmercifully and cruelly she hath delt with vs and how sharpely she hath whipt vs you can remembre and if she beginne now to smile vpon you she meaneth the more mischeife Take hede good sister a stepmother wil euer be a stepmother Giue yourselfe ernestly to readinge of the holie scriptures Holde fast the doctryne that our holye brother and eldest saue one religiously mainteined whom our stepdame laboreth to deface I trust in vaine Flie aswel al idolatrical as al Anabaptistical straūge opinions To which ende I haue dedicated this my litle trauaile vnto you as to my derest sister whom I most desire to be preserued pure and spotles in euerye parte I am not ignorāt that the better you shal be sincerer in treu religiō the more you shal anger our stepdames testie harte and the les fauor you shal finde in your iust requestes But I haue more regarde to the welth of your soule thā to the welth of your bodye And therefore I haue sent you this preseruatiue which our stepdame if she were as she can pretende shuld take in good parte But so that she maye liue in hir babilonical whoredome and droncken lustes and swille in the wine of Aegyptes errors I perceaue she passeth not much how other thinges goe Lift you vp your mindes eyes and beholde the glorious face of the lorde Iesus while our stepmothers eyes ar daseld with the glisteringe vaine glorie of the world toteth al daye in the deceaueable painted face of a monstruous man triple in head and double in herte O that she might be made better but see that you in the meane while be nor made worsse by hyr Let the frute of my worste parte that is with you see the frute of my better parte Commende me to him whom lawes permitte you to love to whō god graūte in heauen that he seketh in erth The lorde Iesus guide you euer with his holie spirite my entierly biloued Your Bro. Bartho Traheron THE FIRST READING I HAVE chosen this parte of the holie scripture wherein to trauail with you at this time bicause thorough goddes great wrath against sinne and the most despiteful malice of Satan against the truth the olde hainous heresie of the vngodlie Arrians is renued in our coūtree and as it were raised vp againe from hel These cankerd old Arrians that you maie undrestāde their heresie spake blasphemously of the godhead of our Lorde Iesus For the first autor of it Arrius vttered erroniously vngodly in the scoles of Alexandria in Aegypte that there was a time whā goddes sonne was not By which wordes he ment that he was not of the same beinge and substāce that the father is of nor of the fame aeternitie and so not the natural sonne of God and verie God in dede but an excellent creature of God whereby God made al thinges as by ā instrumēt as he him selfe opened in farther declaration of his mīde For he graūted that the Lorde Iesus was the first and cheifest creature the beginninge of al other creatures and gaue him also the name of God Howbeit he thought not that he had his Godhed by nature but by borowinge For trial of this matter the most noble and godlie Emperor Constātine the great called a general concile at Nice of thre hundred and eightene bishoppes of whom manie for singular lerninge and eloquence manie for great holines of life were compted worthie of euerlastinge remēbrance In this famous cōcile it was cōcluded out of the holie scriptures that goddes sonne is of the same aeternitee of the same substance essence beinge that God the father is goddes natural sonne and coaequal with the father as it appeareth in the Crede communely called the Nicene Crede Whereunto the hole assemble agreed and subscribed sauinge these fiue Eusebius bishoppe of Nicomedia Theognis bishoppe of Nice Maris bishoppe of Calchedon Theognis bishoppe of Marmarike and Secundus bishoppe of Ptolemais Which fiue bishoppes for their vngodlines by the emperors commaundement were banished out of their coūtrees But sone after their exile Eusebius and Theognis repented that thei had don so vnaduisedly and sent a boke of repentance to the godlie bishoppes wherin they vsed these wordes We haue agreed to the faith and after we had made inquisition of the meaninge of this worde cōsubstantial we were throughly quieted And in dede we claue not to the haeresie yea we subscribed to the faith but we subscribed not to the excommunication Not that we reproue the faith but we
to thinke of the lorde Iesus in this behalfe and that we maie be surely armed agaīst the hissinges of the venimous serpētes clouē toūge For in dede it is a communs opiniō amōge the olde ecclesiastical writers that S. Iohā wrote this treatise purposely against such haeretikes as in his time denied the diuinitie of Christ namely Carpocrates Cerinthus and the Hebionites verie poore mē in vndrestanding according to their name which taught that the Lord Iesus was a man only not God Certainly the purpose and cheife marke of the hole worcke is to teach that Iesus our Lorde was not a mā only but also God and so the true Messias and verie Saueor of the worlde The gospel after S. Iohan Euangeliō signifieth good tidinges And in the holie writers it signifieth a publike solēne and opē preachinge of Christ who by his death hath purged our sinnes and beinge rissen from the deed raigneth in the hertes of his chosen and renueth thē vnto godlines thorough his spirite mortifiynge from time to time their fleshlie lustes and abolishinge more and more the remnaūtes of their natural corruption And this in dede is verie good tidinges For here by we ar deliuered from the feare of death and damnation and from the bondage of sinne Satā breifely hereby we ar remoued frō darcknes to light from despeare to good hope from death to life from hel to heauen Now bicause the office of proclaminge and publishinge this most ioiful tidīges was committed to the ministers of the new testamēt the name of Euāgelistes is most proprely attributed to them specially to those that discribe the natiuitee cōuersation death resurrection of the lorde Iesus wherein this blisfulnes resteth that we so much aduance Some writers affirme that as manie promisses of felicitie and saluation as therebe so manie gospels there be and that therefore the prophetes ar also euangelistes whan they speake of the redemption that goddes annointed shuld accōplish I thincke it not good to striue aboute wordes and I denie not that the hebrue word Bassar which signifieth to euangelize to preach good tidinges is applied in some place to mē of the old time Howbeit I beleue rather that Euāgelion is an opē publishinge of saluatiō al readie perfirmed accōplished than of the same promised And therefore they speake more distinctly proprely that giue the name of Euāgelistes to thapostles writers of the historie of the lorde Iesus finally to the ministers of the new testamēt And to giue place rather to this iudgemēt the wordes of our saueor in the 16. of Luke moue me where he saieth that the law and the prophetes were vnto Iohā the Baptiste that from that time the kingdō of god was euāgelized The kingdō of god was in dede taught before and the gospel preached in some wise but it was not so opēly so largely so plainly so far wide published and proclaimed But herein as I said I wil contēd with no man nor binde the worde to this propre significatiō only For I am not ignorāt what a wrāglinge wit maie gather out of the fourth cha to the Hebr. After S. Iohan The historie of the gospel sheweth that the Lorde Iesus out of the nombre of his disciples chose twelue principal whom he called Apostles bicause they shuld be sent as his special Embassadors in to al the world to publish and preach the glad tidinges of free saluation And amonge these twelue there were three yet more special singular furnished with most excellēt giftes and therefore admitted to certaine thinges where thother were excluded Of these three Iohan was one of whō it is writtē singularly and specially that he was the lordes biloued To whom also the Lorde gaue this meruailous name that he was called the son of thondre And surely who so weigheth this present worcke shal thinke that he rather thondreth from heauen than speaketh mannes wordes Numenius an heathen Philosopher whan he had red the beginninge of this gospel barst out in to these wordes I praie God I die if this barbarous fellow haue not comprehended in few wordes al that our Plato prosequuteth in so manie worckes He called him barbarous bicause he was an hebreu and in his writinge leaueth traces of his mothers toūge foloweth not curiously the finenes proprietes of the greke maner of speakinge but he graūted vnto him asmuch knowlege as the most famous Philosopher father of al lerned wittes Plato had and more shortenes in writīge which is more cōmendable in a writer of graue matters Writers of histories shew manie wōderful thinges of this Iohā as that he was put in to boilinge oile cā out againe vnhurte c. But it shal be sufficiēt for vs to know and cōsidre that he was one of the most excellent singular special apostles therefore a mete witnes of the Lorde Iesus In the beginninge Kinge Dauid inspired from aboue teacheth in the third psal that to saue pertaineth to Iehoua The prophete Esaie moued by the same spirite in the .45 cha hath these wordes Israel is saued ī Iehoua whith a perpetual saluatiō In which cha also God speakinge of himselfe saith thus A iust God and one that saueth there is none beside me And in the prophete Hosea he beareth in the same saiynge thou shalt know no god besides me there is no saueor besides me And in Hieremie he pronoūceth hī accursed that shal trust in mā make fleeshe his arme which wordes cōstraine vs to seke saluatiō no where saue in God But we al seke saluation at the handes of the lorde Iesus we al acknowlege him to be the saueor of the world We must thā of necessitee know him to be god onles we wil forge and mainteine a faith not agreynge to goddes worde And that vndoutedly goddes Messias whō the father aeternally appointed to be the saueor of the world is God the holie scripture beareth witnes most plainly that we shuld be certaine that we swarue not from god whā we seke saluatiō in him For the kinglie prophete Dauid in the .45 psal where with a notable songe he celebrateth the praises of Messias saieth thus Thy throne o God is for euer In which wordes he giueth him not only the name of God but also confesseth his throne to be euer lastinge Now nomānes throne is established for euer sauinge goddes only Esaie in the .9 cha calleth him el gibbor a stronge god and in the same cha he teacheth that there is no measure nor ende of his kingdom The prophete Hieremie to take awaie al cauillations teacheth expresly that he is Iehouah which name is neuer giuē nor can be giuē saue to the true God only the autor and foūraine of al beinge For these be his wordes Beholde the daies comme saieth Iehoua and I wil raise vp to Dauid a iust blosom and a kinge shal raigne do wisely shal exequute iudgemēt and righteousnes in the erth
But as it were in an image we maie beholde in the coale God the worde vnited to mannes nature yet that he hath not cast awai that he was before but hath rather trāsformed the nature which he receaued to his glorie operation For as fier fixed in the woodde percinge in to it cōprehēdeth the wood though the wood cease not to be wood stil yet the fier sendeth his force in to it cōueieth it selfe in to it and is now thought to be one with it so vndrestāde of Christ For God beinge incomprehēsibly vnited to mānes nature hath in that kepte the same that he was he remaineth stille that he was but yet beinge once vnited he is compted as it were one with mānes nature makinge that that pertained to it his awne giuinge it the operation of his nature Hitherto Cyrille He vseth also in this matter the similitude of mannes bodie and soule ioign'd together which in dede expresseth it of al other most proprely For the soule is not turned in to the bodie nor the bodie in to the soule but ech retaineth his propre nature maketh one mā AND the word In that he saieh the worde became flesh not man he sheweth how far Goddes sonne hūbled and abased him selfe For the scripture calleth man flesh whan it wil signifie the pouertie vilenes and miserie of man As whan it is saide al flesh is grasse and he remembred that they were but flesh my spirite shal not euer striue in man for he is flesh But whā the Euangelist saieth the worde became flesh we maie not imagine that Goddes sonne ioigned to his diuine nature flesh only and not mannes soule as Appollinaris thought in his traūce that flesh and the Godhead made one person in Christ without mannes soule For he imagined that the diuinitee was in stede of a soule But so it shuld folow that the lorde Iesus was not a verie mā For flesh is not a man For the soule is the formal parte of a mā namely that whereby a man is a mā with out which a mā can not be And that the lord had a mānes soule beside his diuinitee he him selfe testifieth whā he saieth my soule is heauie vnto the death Nether cā Apollinaris aide him selfe with this place For whā the scripture calleth mē flesh it meaneth not that thei ar without soules For thā thei were no mē in dede Here we must know also from whens Goddes sonne became flesh For we maie not thīcke that he brought his flesh from heauē or made it in the aire For the holie scripture teacheth that he shulde cōme of the sede of Abrahā Dauid shuld be the fruite of his loines For such plaine wordes it vseth to assure vs of the truth of so necessarie a matter vtterly to stoppe the mouthes of dotinge mē And in the writers of the new testamēt it is most plainly sette forth vnto vs that he receaued flesh out of the substāce of the virgin Marie For. S. Mattheu hath these wordes to gar en aute gennethen that which is engendred in hir S. Paule genomenon ekgynaicos made of a womā the Angel in S. Luke ho karpos the frute of thy wombe The frute of a tree is of the same substāce that the tree is of That which only passeth thorough a thinge is not the frute of that thinge For water is not the frute of the cōducte pipe nor ale the frute of the spickette or of the kinderkinne Against this most manifest truth wherein the pith of our saluatiō lieth the franctike Anabaptistes brīge two prīcipal reasons I wot not whether more ignorātly or more vngodly For first thei saie that if the lorde receaued our flesh he receaued vncleane flesh But iudge you whether al the scriptures be they neuer so plaine must giue place to this their simple imagination or whether their simple imagination shuld giue place to so manie plaine scriptures But first I aske them whether God cold not make cleane our vncleane flesh or wold not If thei saie he colde nor they limitte his power ouer much If thei saie he wolde not we wil hisse them out For if God of his goodnes wolde make his sonne to die for vs he wolde of his goodnes make his flesh cleane for vs. Secondly laske them why God wold haue his sonne to be borne of a virgine not to be begottē betwene mā and womā after the commune course of the worlde Doeth not that teache vs that he mēt to make his sonnes flesh pure holie Yea doeth not the angel so signifie in Luke whan he saieth the holie gost shal comme vpō the the power of the highest shal ouersshadow the for which cause the holie thinge to gennomenō that is engēdred shal be called Goddes sonne But this their reason hath no weight bicause it is ōly forged in mānes braine Thother is takē out of the scripture For S. Paule to the Cor. writeth thus The first man was of the erth erthlie The secōde mā is the lorde from heauē In which place S. Paules purpose is not to speake of the substāce of our bodies or of the substance of the lordes bodie but of the qualities as the wordes folowinge declare hoios of what qualitee the erthlie was of that qualitie ar the erthlie of what qualitee the heauēlie is of that qualitee ar the heauēlie This thā is the sense The first mā was of the erth erthlie that is subiecte to sinne corrupte affectiōs which bringe death The secōde heauēlie that is ful of heauēlie qualities which thorough the power of Goddes spirite draw with them life immortalitte As we bare the image of the erthlie that is were sinful and therefore compassed with death so shal we beare the image of the heauenlie that is our spirites shal be renued to tru holines our bodies to immortalitee Wherefore whā he saieth the seconde mā is the lorde from heauē he meaneth not that he brought his bodie from heauen but that he is heauenly as he expouneth himselfe that is endued with heauēlie qualities Now to procede in our former purpose it shal be good to seke out the causes why Goddes sonne became flesh or as Sainct Paule speaketh why God was manifested in flesh And no man can shew vs thē more certainly than S. Paule hath don to the Hebru For there he teacheth vs that the cheife and principal cause was that by death he might destroie him that had deathes power that is Satan For Satan had power ov vs to punish vs with death bicause we were sinners And sinne cold not be purged but in the flesh of Goddes sonne If he had remained God only purgation and satisfactiō for sinne cold not haue bē made by him For the Godhead cold not suffre nor shew obedience But sith thorough disobedience sinne came in to the world it must be putte awaye thorough obedience which required mannes nature Howbeit if he had
accomplisshed al thinges that pertaine to Goddes spiritual kingdome bringinge perfecte forgiuenes of sinnes perfirminge indede al that was shadowed and figured in Moses law Other teache that ful of grace and veritee is as much to saie as most amiable and ful of true vertues And they verie lernedly shew how these two wordes chen and aemeth ar takē in the scripture Chen which worde to vs soundeth grace is taken for fauor as whā Abraham saieth to God im mat sathi chen if I haue found grace in thy sight it is asmuch to saie as if thou fauor loue me And Salomon saieth shaeker hachen that is grace is deceaueable whereby he meaneth amiablenes what so euer winneth vs fauor in mēnes eyes Aemeth signifieth some times sincerite vnfainednes some times large bountefulnes liberalitee some times certaintie surenes firme cōstant abidinge In the first significatiō that is for simple sincere vncōtrefaite dealinge kinge Ezechias vseth it in the 36. of Esaie Remēbre lord that I haue walked before the be aemeth in truth in a perfecte herte In the secōde significatiō we haue it in Genesis if it please you to shew boūtifulnes truth towardes my master In the third Ezechias vseth it againe The lordes word is good only lette there be peace truth in my daies By truth he vndrestādeth a firme assured state of the kingdō And this much for this time Giue god the praise ¶ The Sixte READINGE THe Euāgelist hauīge breifely sobrely spokē of the Godhead of the lorde Iesus as the excedinge highnes incomprehēsible maiestie of the matter required made mētion forth with of Iohan Baptiste the most notable man in dede for singular holines and so than taken also that euer was in that nation where yet had bē soundrie so plentiously furnished with Goddes spirite as in al the worlde the like were neuer seē This most excellēt man Iohan Baptiste the Euangelist brought in as a witnes of the true light of the foūtaine of al light of that light that lightneth al mē ether with general light whereby the reprobate know there is a God to their iust damnation or with special light whereby the chosen know God more fully and perfectly to their iustification and saluation This tru and aeternal light that shineth of it selfe and boroweth not of other is the lord Iesus to whom the Euangelist sheweth vs that the wōdre of the world Io. Baptist a verie phenix amōge mē rēdred notable witnesse But what his witnes was and with what wordes vttered he hath not heretofore tolde vs but in the wordes that folow repetinge his purpose left for a while he teacheth vs fully And the summe and meaninge of the wordes which he now setteth forth is this that the lorde Iessus though he iogned vnto him mannes nature in time yet he is aeternal before al time without beginninge and the verie autor maker prince of al mē high and low and the true foūtaine of al goodnes righteousnes and holines and of al the benefites and graces that at anie time haue ben giuen to mē sithens the beginninge of the world or shal be giuen hereafter to the ende of the world Finally that he is of Goddes most priuie coūsel and that al the knowlege of God that euer anie mā had what so euer that man was proceded was deriued from him This is the summe of the testimonie of Io. Bap. and these be the wordes of the Euangelist declaringe first the maner of Io. witnessinge which foloweth streight after Ioanne witnesseth Io. was vndoubtedly by the confession of al men euē of his aduersaries a man of rare vprightnes of life of excedinge great grauitee and mālie cōstantie so for from flatterie mē pleasinge that nether honor and courtely pleasaūt intertainemēt nor the face of a cruel tyraunt nor most painful emprisonmēt nor the presence of horrible death cold moue him to forbeare to speake the truth at al times The testimonie therefore of such a mā ought wel to be herkēned vnto to haue singular force and most certaine credite amonge vs. Witnesseth Io. office was not only to propoune sette forth to the hearinge of mē the diuinitee of Godes sonne but also to testifie the same to affirme it by legitime lawful testimonie beinge duly called to the office of a witnes Chrysosto notheth that the Euangelist vseth a verbe of the present time and thincketh that thereby he teacheth that Io. witnes hath cōtinual force and shuld moue vs no lesse now thā whā it was first vttered And cried This worde aunciant writters do wel note And partly they teach that thereby an allusion is made and a regarde had to the wordes of the prophete Esaie the voice of one criynge in the wildernes ▪ partly thei saie that thereby is sett forth the plaine mālie bolde behauior of Io. in witnessinge the truth For he vttered not the matter with a soft faint tremblinge waueringe darcke and doubteful voice that few might heare it and vnderstande it but he cried with an assured minde with great confidence and boldnes with an ernest Zeale desiringe that his voice might clearely sounde to the eares of al men Such shuld al the witnesses of goddes truth be no whisperers no dreaners no faint darcke speakers but criers For this cause also it is necessarie for Goddes ministers to crie bicause mē be not only dul slow but for the most parte deafe to heare the truth This is he Other prophetes painted forth spake a sore hād of one that shuld be the kinge saueor of Goddes people but none cold point him forth as it were with the finger saie this is he let not your mindes be caried hither and thither muse no more doubte no more where he is or who he is by whom ye shal obteine a quiet and blisful state for here he is and this is verie he In this point Iohā Baptist excelleth al other prophetes that were before him For our mindes ar not staied and quieted in the name of a saueor vntil we know certaīly who it is Of whom I spake Hereby we vndrestande that Iohan had before made manie sermons of the Lorde Iesus and that the ende of al his preachinge was to bringe men to him And this shuld be the ende of the preachinge and teachinge of al other He that cōmeth after me In these wordes he teacheth vs the aeternitee of the lorde Iesus his diuine nature god head For he saieth he that came after me was before me But touchinge the humanitee of the lord Iesus he was not before Iohā but after him Touchinge also the office of preachinge Iohā was before the lord Iesus Howbeit touchinge his diuine nature it is truly said that the lord Iesus was before Iohā For Iohā was not in the beginninge with God Goddes worde Goddes brightnes Goddes sonne verie God Touchinge this nature the lorde him selfe saieth before